


No Soulmate? No Problem.

by lockexe



Category: ATEEZ (Band)
Genre: 12.5k, 2ho, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Demons, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst with a Happy Ending, Arcades, Demon Jongho, Demon Mingi, Demons, Fluff and Angst, Lack of Communication, Libraries, M/M, Mentions of Death, Pining, Soulmates, The rest of ateez are human, demon yunho, sansang, seongjoong
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-05
Updated: 2020-10-05
Packaged: 2021-03-07 17:01:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,575
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26831092
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lockexe/pseuds/lockexe
Summary: Where you get a soulmate mark on your 18th birthday. Wooyoung turns 18 and doesn't get a mark. It leaves him confused and broken because it was something he's always dreamed about. He's always been a hopeless romantic.Mingi, new to the life of being a demon, did receive a soulmate mark upon what would be his 18th birthday. He's confused as he's dead and a demon. He doesn't even have a soul.
Relationships: Jung Wooyoung/Song Mingi, Woogi - Relationship
Comments: 2
Kudos: 25
Collections: RARETEEZ





	No Soulmate? No Problem.

**Author's Note:**

  * In response to a prompt by Anonymous in the [AteezRarePairFest2020](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/AteezRarePairFest2020) collection. 



> Hi, this is my very first full length fic/au, feel free to give constructive criticism. I hope you all enjoy reading it at least just a little!!

Wooyoung spends his last day as a seventeen-year-old counting down the hours, minutes and seconds until the clock hits midnight and he turns eighteen. His family and several of his friends are gathered with him in the middle of their living room as the clock reads 11:50pm. Turning eighteen didn’t just signify that someone had become an adult, it was also the day that they would receive their Soulmate Mark. This mark would painlessly show up as a tattoo and could be any range of imagery. It could be the first words spoken between you and your soulmate. It could be an illustration of your soulmate’s favorite food. Some people were lucky enough to get their soulmate’s full name while others only got a singular polka dot of their soulmate’s favorite color.

Wooyoung loves to obsess over romance dramas and has even written a fic or two of his favorite idols finding their own soulmates. He loves to dream and imagine what his soulmate will be like and what they will look like. Gender does not matter to Wooyoung, but he is curious if his soulmate will be a boy or girl, or neither, or both. Will they be as active and loud as him, or will they be reserved and shy? What is their favorite color or their favorite food? Hopefully, they don’t like to eat cucumbers. Obviously, if they are his soulmate Wooyoung would learn to love them, cucumbers or not.

“Only ten minutes!” Yeosang, Wooyoung’s closest friend, speaks up, almost yelling. From a distance, Yeosang was cold and quiet. He has a face that could land him a modeling job, though he would never accept. His hair is a platinum blonde color that reaches to his cheek bones in the front, and a mullet in the back. Once getting to know Yeosang though, one will find more than just his cold looks and quiet nature. Yeosang is also very loud, funny, and full of laughter. Yeosang and Wooyoung love to brag about being friends ever since birth, as their mothers had been friends even before the two boys had been born. Yeosang’s mother gave birth to him in June while Wooyoung was born only five months later. The both of them grew up together like brothers.

Yeosang had already turned eighteen and managed to find his soulmate within just two months of gaining his mark. His soulmate was none other than the person Yeosang had already been crushing on; Choi San. Wooyoung, Yeosang, and San are all seniors in high school, not too far off from graduating. San is one of the more popular ones in their grade. He is known for being outgoing and nice to his classmates, far from the typical popular cliché often shown in movies. His looks on the other hand, are as if they came straight from the movie screen.

“Oh! do you think his mark is going to be as simple as ours?” San’s tone of voice matches the excitement in his eyes, dimples showing effortlessly beside his smile. San was easy to become friends with, he was a lot like Wooyoung. They both are loud and chaotic, and they became close friends within just weeks of San and Yeosang becoming soulmates. San and Yeosang were one of the luckier soulmate pairs. Their soulmate marks were each other’s names, and as they had gone to the same school and already knew about each other, it was easy for them to connect.

“Let’s hope not.” Wooyoung is not sure that he wants his soulmate mark to be simple or easy. Wouldn’t it be fun if it had a bit of mystery? Maybe it would be something romantic or cute. He did not really want it to be his soulmates name, it would be boring. He likes to imagine the different soulmate marks that he could get, or where it would show up at. It was most common for them to show up on the wrist or along the arm, but they were also known to show up on legs, thighs or ankles. Anywhere else was possible but a lot rarer.

“JUST A MINUTE LEFT!” San stands and yells out, much louder than before, causing Yeosang to hit him on the arm, making him sit back down.

“Why are you more excited than Wooyoung? It’s his soulmate not yours.” Yeosang playfully pouts through his words. San stuck his tongue out at him but stayed quiet, their eyes on Wooyoung. On the outside it did seem that San was more excited than Wooyoung. But on the inside Wooyoung was about to faint from excitement. He was so ready for this, to finally find _his_ soulmate.

Wooyoung’s parents sat beside him peering down at his arms that he held out in front of him. His brothers were sitting on the sofa nearby. Along with his arms, Wooyoung’s legs also sat exposed as he had made sure to wear shorts and short sleeves that would allow him to see his soulmate mark the moment it appeared.

“How much longer?” Wooyoung couldn’t help but to let the excited smile finally show on his face.

“Literally like 30 seconds Woo.” Yeosang’s smile mirrored his. Yeosang had done this with him just five months before but reversed and he was excited for his friend the same way Wooyoung had been for him.

Wooyoung tapped his foot against the floor in excited anxiety for the mark that would show up in just seconds. He didn’t even notice that he had started mumbling the words ‘please be cute’ to himself, making his parents laugh. He didn’t even notice when San began to countdown from five, four, three, two, one….

“Huh?” Wooyoung turned his arms over again and again, not seeing a marking anywhere. He then checked his legs, and still found no sign of a soulmate mark. He could feel his heart begin to pound in his chest. Did he really have no soulmate mark? Just the thought made him want to tear up.

“Oooh you’ve got a rare mark!!” San seemed to be much more optimistic, “Check the rest of your body Wooyoung!!”

“Oh, oh my god, you’re right.” Yeosang had seemed a bit worried but he seemed optimistic now about the fact that Wooyoung’s mark was just rare.

“Okay…” Wooyoung reluctantly agreed, something just didn’t seem right to him. He glanced at his family who just gave supportive smiles and nods of their heads, their way of saying ‘you’ve got this and go check already.’

Wooyoung stood and headed to the bathroom right down the hall from the living room. San and Yeosang followed close behind. Once the three of them were inside the somewhat large bathroom. Wooyoung began to raise his shirt up but stopped himself.

“Ah turn around,” Wooyoung instructs them ever so shyly. It wasn’t that he was shy to show skin in front of San and Yeosang. They changed in front of each other all of the time. This was just different.

“Oh, come o-” San started but was cut off by Yeosang, who could tell how serious Wooyoung was being.

“Just turn around, come on.” Yeosang turned around, forcing San to do so as well.

After taking a few deep breaths Wooyoung took off his shirt and let it fall to the floor. He looks himself over in the mirror. Just like his friends, Wooyoung is good looking, but unlike his friends, he is not the most humble about it. He isn’t afraid to call himself cute or sexy. He likes to keep his hair long enough to pull back into a small ponytail, and he never shied away from a little makeup. He has always been naturally fit but still enjoyed exercising to keep his thighs and stomach taught. Once again, there seemed to be no mark on his stomach, chest or back. His heartbeat began to rush again, and his tears were increasingly hard to hold back as he focused on breathing.

“Hey is everything alright?” Yeosang called back to Wooyoung before turning around when getting no reply.

“I- I- I” He couldn’t bring himself to say anything.

“It could be on your thighs?” Yeosang prompts, without sounding too convinced, himself.

“Or your ass!” San quips. Yeosang smacked him on the back of the head and glared at him before turning back to Wooyoung.

“Hey, it’s alright, you know how rare it is to not get a mark? It’s probably just on your inner thigh!” Yeosang shook Wooyoung gently by his shoulders to pull him out of his thoughts.

After taking several more labored breaths, Wooyoung mutters a small ok and continues to check his thighs, and his ass as san had so politely suggested. Even then Wooyoung still saw no sign of a soulmate mark. Once getting completely dressed again, Wooyoung could no longer hold back the tears that had been threatening to spill.

~~~~~~~~~

It’s been around three months, since Mingi had received his soulmate mark, and he still has no clue how he has it, or who the mark would lead back to. He’s a demon, he doesn’t exactly have a soul, so how could he have a soulmate. It just didn’t make any sense to him.

A person’s soul is bound to either heaven or hell the moment they leave the earth. If your soul is too restless it is hard for heaven or hell to truly control it and you will be sent back to earth, leaving your soul behind, with the purpose to bring it to rest. That is as far as Mingi’s knowledge on the matter goes, however. He knows people can come back as ghosts or spirits as well, but he doesn’t know what it is that dictates what you come back as. He knows he is a demon, but having no knowledge of his life before, there isn’t much he can do. He isn’t really sure he wants to leave Earth anyway.

Mingi lives with his two roommates, Yunho and Jongho, both demons who are much, much older than he is. He had met Yunho only a week after becoming what he is. Mingi was still so lost and confused, and Yunho welcomed him immediately into his arms. Yunho and Jongho were already roommates and didn’t hesitate to welcome Mingi as another roommate and friend. The both of them explained what they knew to Mingi and helped him adapt to what would become his new way of life. A life of only needing to sleep for fun, eating whatever he wanted with no repercussions, and cuddling with his roommates while watching movies every night.

Which is where they are now; with Yunho sitting between Mingi and Jongho on their large sofa, his arms wrapped around the both of them, as they cuddle into his sides. Yunho was watching the movie happily while Jongho slept out of boredom. Mingi isn’t sure what his life was like as a human, but at this point what could be better than this?

Even with the movie about whales playing in front of him, Mingi can’t keep his mind off of his mark. It is a singular letter on the inside of his pinky finger. W. Other than the fact that he just shouldn’t have a mark, it’s just so vague. There are so many things that the letter W could stand for. Too many names start with the letter W. He couldn’t help but to rub at the mark and his pinky.

“Hey… everything alright?” Yunho was always too observant, “Wait, did you get a tattoo?” Yunho sat up more and paused the movie causing Jongho to stir out of his bored sleeping.

Mingi tried to hide his pinky but Yunho was too quick. He grabs Mingi’s hand and holds it up for him and the now fully awake Jongho to see.

“No, it’s not- wait, I mean yes! It’s a tattoo!” He honestly isn’t even sure why he is trying to lie about it. Yunho would know the truth.

“Really? Why a W? What does it stand for?” Jongho on the other hand, although very smart, was quick to believe anything Mingi or Yunho said.

“Oh…Um… it stands for Wingi?” He states as more of a question. “Like you know, Mingi and Win. Cause I like to win?”

“You got a W for Wingi? Cause you like to win?” Yunho deadpans eyes narrowing at Mingi.

“Yup.” Mingi tries to smile but Yunho is still staring at him through narrowed eyes.

“I gotta be honest, Mingi, that’s kinda lame,” Jongho scrunched his nose, “Can we play the movie again? I was enjoying it.”

“You were sleeping through it.” Yunho turns his attention to Jongho and drops Mingi’s hand allowing him to hide it under one of the many throw blankets surrounding them.

“I wasn’t sleeping!”

“Yes, you were! I thought you said you liked documentaries like these?” Yunho pouts.

“Ah! Don’t pout, please? I really do like documentaries. You’re just so warm and comfy I couldn’t help but want to sleep.” It’s an excuse that works every time.

Yunho is content with the answer and settles back down onto the sofa pulling Jongho to cuddle with him, this time without Mingi. This happens almost every time. They start the movie as three, but somewhere along the line, Yunho and Jongho end up being the only ones curled together. Mingi doesn’t mind it though. He finds the both of them too cute, and it’s not like they do it on purpose. He is just confused as to why they both refuse they have feelings for each other.

Mingi attempts to make his leave, slowly moving the blankets off of him and making his way towards his room. Before turning down the hallway. He glances back to Yunho to find him staring back at him with an expression that says, ‘You’re not off the hook yet’.

He doesn’t bother to turn his room light on, he just throws himself onto the bed with a heavy sigh. Mingi really didn’t want the two of them to find out. He doesn’t want them to worry over him. Even before he got his mark, they both reiterated the fact that demons didn’t get soulmates. So, them seeing the mark now wouldn’t help any. They were probably just as clueless as he is.

“It’s too late now,” Mingi mumbles to himself. He decides he might as well get comfy and sleep. There isn’t much else to do, plus sleep is nice anyway.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

“How are you holding up?” Wooyoung’s dad asks. Wooyoung looks over to his dad to see him sitting at the kitchen table, drinking coffee. Wooyoung himself has only just woken up. He lets out a yawn and moves to sit at the table with his dad. It has been around two weeks since his birthday and Wooyoung would be lying if he were to say he’s doing good.

“I’m good.” He lies.

“Are you sure? You know me and your mother are here for you no matter what.”

“I know, thank you,” Wooyoung smiles, but he knows it isn’t convincing, “I'll be alright. I mean, I should’ve thought about the possibility that I wouldn’t have a soulmate. I’m just naive and stupid.”

“You aren’t naïve or stupid, Wooyoung. There isn’t anything wrong with wanting or wishing for a soulmate. Look, why don’t you and your friends go to the mall, or whatever it is that you guys do, after school today?” His dad fishes money out of his wallet and hands it to Wooyoung.

Wooyoung isn’t one to deny money or an excuse to go out with friends, so he takes the money after thanking his dad. After eating a small bit of breakfast, he sends a text to Yeosang and San about going to the arcade after school. Their school had used to require uniforms, but due to an endless amount of people breaking the rules, the school decided to enforce less extreme rules, and dropped the requirement of uniforms. Of course, even Wooyoung still pushes the limits of the dress code. No rips in pants that were too high up, no men in clothes that were usually seen as feminine, amongst others, are rules that Wooyoung often pushes. Today though, his outfit is safe enough to not get called to the office. He decides on wearing a simple black t-shirt with a black jacket that has yellow fuji mums printed on it, paired with jeans and sneakers. After putting on a bit of makeup he pulls his hair into a small ponytail at the top of his head and ties a black and white bandana around his forehead. He gave his dad a final smilebro

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mingi had spent the two weeks after Yunho finding out about the soulmate mark, avoiding him. Most of the avoiding meant sleeping or going to random places that he had yet to be. But now it was the middle of a Monday, and Yunho wanted to go to the arcade.

“Come on… it’ll be fun!” Yunho and Jongho both stood outside of Mingi’s room basically begging for him to come along with them.

“I don’t know... I’ve never been to an arcade.”

“I’m sure you did at least when you were alive. They were still such a huge thing when I was alive, I would go quite often.” Jongho reminisces.

Out of the three of them, he has the most memories of his past. He is also the only one of them who wanted to actually find peace. It is probably why Yunho refuses to admit his feelings for the younger, at least that’s what Mingi guesses. Mingi himself, isn’t quite sure what he wants right now. Living on earth, albeit as a demon, didn’t seem to be all that bad. There didn’t seem to be too many downsides. Of course, Yunho had told him stories of his own life as a demon. Having lived a lot longer than Mingi, Yunho had so many more experiences that would warrant wanting to find peace. Mingi feels as if it is really just Jongho that keeps Yunho here at this point. Yunho had told him about the endless human friends he had made that, in the end, faded away when he didn’t. About the wars, and almost-wars that he has witnessed. He never did let on his actual age though, Mingi and Jongho were left to wonder about just how old Yunho is. But Mingi figured he could avoid such things. Don’t become friends with humans and never get romantically involved with a human. Just don’t interact with humans unless truly necessary, stay to yourself. He had Yunho and Jongho here with him, for now anyway, he didn’t need those things anyway. Of course, avoiding wars would be a different story, but Mingi couldn’t be bothered to think that far ahead.

Mingi didn’t really want to go to the arcade. He knew there could be possibly way too many people there, and he wanted to avoid that. He also wanted to avoid what would be an uncomfortable conversation with Yunho about his possible soulmate marking.

“If you come to the arcade with us,” Yunho stopped to think about what he could possibly bribe Mingi with, “I'll let you choose the movies for movie night.”

“I still don’t know…”

“For two whole nights!”

“For a week?” Two nights were tempting but not enough for Mingi.

“Oh, come on, my documentaries aren’t that bad, are they?” Yunho pouted, looking between Mingi and Jongho who both avoided eye contact. “Fine… an entire week where you get to choose all the movies.”

“Fine. I'll go to the arcade.” Mingi stated, finally getting up from his bed.

~~~~~~~~~~

It’s around 4pm and the arcade is busy per usual. School gets out around 3pm every day and Wooyoung, San, and Yeosang had headed straight to the Arcade after. The fun of playing arcade games within such an environment of excitement and noise would never lose its touch. At least, not to Wooyoung. The arcade is one of his safe places, it was easy to have fun, and forget about everything else. How could one think about the fact that they were a loner when they’re surrounded by the constant dinging and pinging of games, and the screaming and yelling of the players. 

The ruckus of the inside of the arcade gets ten times louder the moment Wooyoung opens the doors and enters the building. The three of them make their way to the register where they can swap out real money for the tokens that the arcade games take, Wooyoung leading the way. There are already three boys that seem around their age maybe a bit older standing at the counter in front of them, seeming to be decided upon which stuffed animal they want to swap their tickets for.

“I wonder if someone has beat my top score on Donkey Kong™,” San says. San holds the high score on several of the games in this arcade, Donkey Kong™ being one of them.

“Hmm I doubt it, you’ve had the high score on that game for like three years.” Yeosang responds while looking over to the game to see if anyone was playing it currently.

Wooyoung pulls his wallet out of his jacket pocket ready to pull out a few bills to trade in for tokens. He decides to use his own money for the tokens and use the money his dad gave him for any food or drinks they may want. As he’s pulling the money out of the wallet a few coins fall out before he can stop them. One of the men in front of him, turns around at the sound of the coins clinking against the floor.

“Ah, let me help you.” The man smiles and picks up the few coins while Wooyoung struggles to keep more coins from falling as well. The blonde headed man holds the coins out to Wooyoung palm up, and Wooyoung spots a small “W” on the man’s pinky. He takes the money from the man and thanks him, the two of them finally making eye contact. The guy has already looked away and begins dragging his two friends out the door with him, but Wooyoung can’t stop staring after him.

“What was that about?” Yeosang breaks Wooyoung out of his trance.

“Oh uhm, I-I just dropped some coins,” Wooyoung hands the woman behind the counter his money, and she hands him back the tokens.

“Who was the guy you had heart eyes for?” San wiggles his eyebrows.

“He just picked the coins up for me,” Wooyoung rolls his eyes, “I don’t know who he is.”

“You should’ve asked for his name, you know, flirted with him, got his number-“

“Absolutely not,” Wooyoung cuts San off before he can continue, then mumbles, “ He had a soulmate mark anyway.”

Yeosang gives him a small smile of understanding and moves to also get tokens. After Yeosang and San have both successfully traded out money for tokens, probably more tokens than any of them need, they head over to Donkey Kong™ to check on San’s high score.

“MINGI?” San yells after seeing that he in-fact does not have the high score on the game anymore. “Who the hell is Mingi?”

“I can’t believe someone actually beat it.” Wooyoung states, wide eyed. “And they beat it by like 50,000 points.”

“That just means you’ll have to beat the score again.” Yeosang giggles seeing San pout.

“Ah it was so much work to beat it the first time though. I may just let them have it.” San says but his actions say otherwise as he inserts tokens into the game and gets ready to play.

Wooyoung and Yeosang know that he isn’t going to be moving away from the game anytime soon so they both find their own game to play after giving San words of encouragement.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Are you sure you’ve never been to an arcade?” Jongho asks for the fifth time since they’ve been back home, “How the hell did you beat that high score so easily. What name was it under? San?”

“Yeah, San, I think. Like you said earlier maybe I went before I… you know…” Mingi lets his sentence trail off.

“Either that or you’re just a natural.” Yunho speaks up from the kitchen. “I told you it would be fun.”

“It wasn’t not fun I guess.” Mingi gives in.

It was fun actually. Winning the high score had filled him with so much joy as the machine had spit out so many tickets. He didn’t care for any of the toys behind the counter, so he had given the tickets to Jongho and Yunho who had fought over which stuffed animal they wanted to get with them. They had eventually decided on a stuffed bear, which Jongho sat holding in his lap now.

“There was this boy…” Mingi starts, “He... never mind.”

“A boy?” Yunho walks out of the kitchen with popcorn and raises an eyebrow, then his face softens. “You know… it’s not good to get too close to a human.”

“No,” Mingi shakes his head, pulling himself out of his thoughts. “I mean yeah, I know. I- I just. It was nothing. Sorry.”

Jongho moves over on the couch so that he can lay his head on Mingi’s shoulder. Yunho sets the popcorn on the table and sits on the other side of Jongho. Just like Yunho had promised, Mingi got to pick the movie this time, so they sat watching an action movie that he thought looked interesting.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~The clock strikes noon and every student is making their way to lunch. Wooyoung always eats at the same table everyday with Yeosang, San, Yeonjun and Changbin. Both Yeonjun and Changbin had found themselves to be each other’s soulmates a few months before Wooyoung’s birthday. The four of them sit at their usual table near one of the bigger glass windows. 

“Have either of you done the homework for chemistry?” Yeonjun’s question is directed to Yeosang and Changbin, who share the class with him. 

Wooyoung doesn’t bother to tune into the conversation, as chemistry isn’t a class of his, instead he opts to staring out the window. It’s a cool day outside, and he can see the trees slightly sway in the breeze. Although hungry, he doesn’t have much of an appetite. He should be over it, he thinks to himself. It happens, not everyone gets a soulmate. Although Wooyoung feels ever so slightly better, he still feels broken. Why him? Why him when everyone else around him has a soulmate. Even that stranger at the arcade had one. 

The stranger. There he goes thinking about him again. Ever since meeting him in the arcade, Wooyoung’s mind hasn’t stopped finding its way back to the man’s blonde hair and sharp eyes. For what reason, Wooyoung wasn’t sure, and it bothers him. The pout that had been forming in his mind must have already made its way to his mouth, as San kicks him under the table.

“OW!” Wooyoung looks across the table to San, pouting even more this time playfully. The kick didn’t actually hurt at all. San rolls his eyes at the younger boy’s dramatic antics and leans onto the table putting his head in his hands. 

“I was thinking…” San starts slowly.

“Think faster.” Wooyoung looks to the other three at the table to see Yeonjun and Changbin both feverously copying from Yeosang’s homework.

“I was thinking… I have this friend of mine, who graduated from here last year. His name is Hongjoong. Do you know him?”

“Nope, I don’t think so, why?”

“Well, he also doesn’t have a soulmate mark. Neither does his boyfriend, Seonghwa, actually.” 

“Oh?” Wooyoung was confused as to why San brought it up. “Why are you telling me this exactly?”

“I thought maybe you know, if you want to, I could take you to meet them?” San proposes. 

“I don’t know…”

“Hongjoong and Seonghwa both are really great people, I’m sure they would have encouraging words. Being stuck around a bunch of people who have soulmates really must suck.”

It was like San had read his mind. He isn’t wrong though, as much as Wooyoung loves his friends and family, everyone has a soulmate. It’s a glaring reminder that he, himself, lacks one. 

“I guess it couldn’t hurt right?” Wooyoung gives a small smile, and kicks San back under the table. The conversation at the table slowly shifts from chemistry to the usual school drama and Wooyoung is quick to jump back in.

~~~~~~~~~~~

“Do you actually know these people personally?” Yeosang asks San skeptically, as they walk up to an apartment building. Yeosang had insisted on coming with the two of them, insisting that he is the only normal one.

“Sorta, yeah.” San responds nonchalantly.

“Sorta?” Wooyoung whispers yells, as they are now at the door of the apartment. “You told me they are your friends!”

“They are!! Hongjoong tutored me last year, and I needed his help for the math exam we had at the beginning of this year as well. He should remember me.” San scratches the nap of his neck, smiling slightly.

“Should? He should remember you?” Wooyoung is ready to just cancel this little meeting, but San is quick to knock on the door. Wooyoung takes a deep breath, this is totally fine, yeah.

“Hello?” The man at the door is tall, taller than the three of them standing there. “Oh, San? That’s your name right? Is Hongjoong supposed to be tutoring the three of you? He didn’t mention…“

“Oh, hi Seonghwa!” San beams, smiling brightly. “This is actually an impromptu visit. I hope it's not a bother, we can leave if it isn’t a good time.”

Wooyoung wants to hit San for bringing him here when he obviously isn’t as close to the two men as San had made it seem. Before Wooyoung can worry too much though, Seonghwa is already smiling brightly and opening the door more for them to enter.

“Not at all, it isn’t a bad time. Come on in, don’t mind the mess.” 

The mess being none at all. Their place is somewhat small but doesn’t feel cramped at all. Although the apartment isn’t perfectly tidy, it is by no means dirty. The three of them take their shoes off at the door and follow Seonghwa to the living room. 

“Hey babe, we have visitors,” Seonghwa pokes the other man, presumably Hongjoong, in the back of the head. “I’ll make some tea for everyone.” 

Hongjoong stands from his position on the loveseat to greet them, “Hi, wait, I wasn’t scheduled to tutor you, was I? I’m really sorry if I forgot.”

“No, no, not at all, I just stopped by cause I wanted to introduce you guys to my friend,” San gestures to Wooyoung, “This is Wooyoung.”

“And I’m Yeosang. Not that it's important.” Yeosang huffs glaring at San playfully.

“Oh uhm, nice to meet you Wooyoung and Yeosang! You guys can sit down if you’d like.” Hongjoong waves to the other sofa in the room. Yeosang and Wooyoung reply with a soft ‘it’s nice to meet you too’ as the three of them sit on the sofa. 

“So why exactly did you guys decide to stop by today?” Seonghwa asks entering the room with the tea he promised. They each take a glass and Wooyoung looks to San to let him answer.

“Well actually, Wooyoung’s birthday was a couple weeks ago, but uhm.”

“I don’t have a soulmate mark.” Wooyoung finishes for him, keeping his eyes on his tea.

“Oh.” Both Hongjoong and Seonghwa say in unison before giggling. Hongjoong takes a sip of his tea and thinks for a moment. 

“I’m sure it was and is upsetting for you. But you know, there is more to life than a soulmate. It’s not bad to want one of course or being upset that you don’t have one. A lot of people see it as the only thing of importance though. It’s really not a great mindset” Hongjoong says thoughtfully.

“I agree,” Seonghwa chimes in, “Also, it’s not like you’ll never find love. You can still find someone to spend your life with. I think of Hongjoong as my soulmate, my soulmate without a mark.” Seonghwa smiles warmly, looking at his boyfriend, who only blushes shyly.

“The point is, don’t let the thought of having to have a soulmate, or a mark, consume you.” Hongjoong finishes. 

Except, that’s exactly what Wooyoung does. Although the conversation steers away from the topic of soulmates, and instead about how they are all doing in school. Hongjoong takes the time to scold San on his grades. Wooyoung actively participates in the conversation, but in the back of his mind there is a little Wooyoung repeating the line, ‘Soulmate without a mark’.

The three of them don’t stay too long, as both Hongjoong and Seonghwa are freshmen college students with homework of their own. Soon enough Wooyoung is back home and laying in bed. Before going to bed Wooyoung puts a note to himself in his phone, ‘research possibilities of having a soulmate without a mark’. It isn’t near bedtime, but Wooyoung just wants to sleep. So, he does. He sleeps and he dreams. He dreams about the tall blonde headed boy with a pretty undercut, tan skin and dark brown eyes. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It’s just a week later and the household has run out of snacks yet again, and it’s Mingi’s turn to do the shopping. Instead of going to an actual grocery store, Mingi opts for the nearby seven eleven. The store really has all the snacks anyone could want for movie nights, so no harm no foul Mingi thinks to himself. The only issue lies wherein Mingi can’t decide if he wants barbeque chips or original chips.

“You know, personally I like the honey butter chips.” A voice says from beside him, startling him. Mingi jumps slightly and looks over with wide eyes. “Oh, I’m sorry I didn’t mean to startle you.” The boy smiles raising his hands in mock surrender.

“It’s alright, I’m just easily startled.” Mingi takes a proper look at him and feels a sense of familiarity. “Wait, you’re the kid from the arcade last week.”

“Right, I’m Wooyoung, and yeah, you helped me pick up the coins I dropped.” The boy, Wooyoung, says “I’m not a kid though, I’m 18.” 

“Sorry, I didn’t mean it like that, I don’t mean to be rude. I just, I was, Uhm. You said the honey butter chips?” Mingi trips over his words looking at the boy in front of him. Pretty, is the only word that comes to mind. 

“Yeah, they’re kinda my favorite snack right now.” He turns and reaches past Mingi to grab a bag for himself. “You should try them!”

“Sure, why not.” Mingi also grabs some and turns back to Wooyoung. “Oh, I’m Mingi by the way.”

“Mingi…” The black-haired boy repeats, and Mingi can’t help but like the way it sounds. “I like it. It’s a pretty name. Do you have a phone number? Well, I mean, I’m sure you do, but I mean, can I have it? Like to talk to you? Or if you’re more comfortable with it, your snapchat or something? If it’s not a bother of-“

Mingi finds himself wanting to just say yes, and give the boy his number, but Yunho’s words run through his mind. “it’s not good to get too close to a human’.

“No.”

“Oh.” Wooyoung’s face falls.

“I’m sorry that sounded really harsh. I just can't, I'm really sorry.” Mingi really does feel bad. Just seeing this boy upset makes him want to take it back and give him every social media of his possible. Instead though, Mingi just grabs the remaining snacks he needs and checks out before making his way out of the store and back home.

Once home Mingi deposits all of the newly bought snacks onto the kitchen counter calling for his roommates. Yunho and Jongho emerge from their room where they had most likely been playing video games. 

“I totally would’ve won, if you hadn’t distracted me.” Yunho pouts as they make their way to the kitchen, confirming Mingi’s suspicions.

The three of them pick their snacks and settle on the couch. After Mingi’s week of picking movies, they had finally decided to make it fair, and they would take turns each day picking a movie. Today does happen to be Mingi’s turn. He chooses a movie that has just recently come out, and it seems really interesting. Thirty minutes later though, Mingi found himself daydreaming, no longer focused on the movie. 

His daydream isn’t a happy one. His thoughts are filled with a shocked face and upset eyes. The boy-Wooyoung, Mingi corrects himself- had seemed so nice, and yet Mingi had turned him down so quickly, and harshly.

‘I could’ve said it differently, nicer.’ Mingi thinks, scolding himself. Mingi wants to see him again, only to apologize of course, and then they could both go on with their lives. It can’t hurt much to see him just once more. Apologizing wouldn’t make us close, it’s not like Mingi would get attached that easily. Even if the boy was exceptionally pretty, with the cutest smile, and shining eyes. 

“Mingi? Hello?” Yunho snapping in front of his face pulled Mingi out of his thoughts. He glances over to see both Yunho and Jongho looking slightly worried. “Is everything alright there? You aren’t even watching the movie.”

“I’m watching the movie.” Mingi says defensively. 

“Oh really? What just happened then?” Jongho challenges him with a smirk.

“They’re racing duh.” 

“Of course, they are racing, that’s what the movie is about. You completely missed the wreck that just happened.” Jongho laughs. 

“Oh.” Mingi sighs looking down and rubbing at the W on his pinky.

“What are you thinking about?” Yunho glances at Mingi’s pink as well. “Oh. Of course. You know… you still haven’t explained that.”

“I don’t know how to.” Mingi admits dejectedly. “You’re both smart enough to know it isn’t just a tattoo.”

“I thought it was at first, not gonna lie.” Jongho blushes slightly, making Yunho laugh. 

“So, it’s a soulmate mark, but the question is how. And I know neither of you would know, considering you would’ve told me about such a possibility. So, I figured it would do no good of telling you.” Mingi sighs.

Yunho frowns slightly and runs his hand through his peach hair in thought. “You know that we are here for you no matter what though. Even if I don’t know the answer to any of your problems, I am completely prepared to help you look for the answer.”

“Me too. I mean, sure there isn’t a lot of information about what we are, or soulmates in terms of afterlife, but I’m sure there’s gotta be something or someone that knows something.” The youngest speaks up. 

“You know what, I haven’t been to a library in ages, but common lets go.” Yunho stands up from the couches looking to the two who haven’t moved an inch. “Come on!”

“Yunho…” Jongho starts.

“It's almost midnight.” Mingi finishes.

“Oh, right.” Yunho sits back down embarrassed. “I knew that.” 

“Let’s finish this movie. We can go tomorrow.” Mingi offers. The others agree and they settle down to finish the movie, after explaining to Mingi what he missed. Jongho wraps his arms around Yunho pulling him closer. Mingi pulls the blankets closer. 

~~~~~~~~~~

“Goodness, humans really know nothing.” Yunho glares distastefully at the book open in front of him. 

“You were human once too you know.” Jongho reminds him. “I’m sure you believed the things these books say.”

“Never.” Yunho pushes the book aside, grabbing the next one. 

“Honestly, I think most humans just don’t believe demons are real, so anything they say about them is going to be made up and exaggerated.” Mingi says. He loved to read even when he was alive, most stories that had ever involved demons were deemed fictional. “I read a lot when I was alive. Demons were seen as fiction, and honestly I didn’t believe in such things either.”

He doesn’t get a response and is only meant with quietness. Mingi looks up from the book he had his nose in to be met with two surprised faces. 

“What?”

“You just remembered something from your life. You’re gaining memories back.” Jongho states happily.

“Oh. I did.” Mingi surprised himself. Yunho’s face flashes different emotions, one being sadness, but he quickly masks it and smiles encouragingly before Mingi can ask what’s wrong.

“That’s really good Mingi!” Yunho speaks before turning back to the book about demons. 

So far, they had learned that humans believed demons were either nonexistent or had so many special abilities. The only thing special that Mingi can think of is their ability to go without eating or sleeping, which was to be expected being, you know, not alive. Most writings saw soulmates as a strictly human thing, though some want to believe it could be extended to their pets. There is nothing about real demons having soulmates, but again as most things are fictional, or just completely wrong, what else can one expect. 

“I'll be back.” Mingi stands and puts the few books he had back on the cart. He figures it could help to look more into the soulmate books, instead of the demon-based books. He browses the shelves and shelves of books under the soulmate section. There are hundreds, maybe thousands of books surrounding soulmates. He is in the section that has books that dealt with problems surrounding soulmates when he hears a familiar voice behind him.

“Nope, nope, not this, hm maybe this one. Definitely not that book.” The voice speaks. Mingi turns around in search of the face behind the voice and sees none other than the boy from the arcade and the store. He’s got a small pile of books already in his arm and is reaching up to grab another. The books in his arms begin to wobble and Mingi rushes to stop them from falling. He catches the two that had fallen before they hit the ground.

“I’m so sorry, I’m trying to reach this- oh.” Wooyoung stares at Mingi and he isn’t sure if he likes the way Wooyoung is looking at him. 

“Hey.” Mingi tries. “Here are your books.” He holds the books out to the black headed boy who takes them and sets them back on his stack and starts to walk away.

“Wait! I’m sorry about yesterday.” Mingi speaks up before he can get too far. Wooyoung stops and turns around, smiling.

“You’ve already apologized. I’m not upset at you or anything. You’re not interested in me, and that’s fine.” Wooyoung shrugs. “Plus, you have a soulmate mark anyway.”

“Yeah… but I’m not supposed to.” Mingi mumbles. 

“Hm?” Wooyoung raises his eyebrows.

“Ah, it's nothing, don’t you have a mark?” Mingi prods instead.

“Nope.” The boy frowns. “That’s why I’m here actually. I’m kind of trying to figure out why or the possibility if I may have one, just without a mark.”

“Oh.” Mingi is surprised, he expected the boy to have one. “Uhm, which book was it you were reaching for?” Mingi turns to the shelf to grab the book for him. 

“Third shelve, the one that says, ‘No soulmate?’” 

“Ah got it.” Mingi grabs the book and walks over to Wooyoung, grabbing two of the five books he is carrying. “Here let me help you.”

Wooyoung lets him take the books and leads him to where he had been sitting. Mingi helps him to set down the books and return a few of the ones he didn’t need anymore. ‘This is fine’ Mingi thinks. ‘He might know something.’ ‘He could help.’

“What exactly are you looking for?” Wooyoung asks sitting down, looking up to Mingi who hesitates to sit.

“Well, I actually am here with a friend, I was searching for him. He’s doing research uhm, for a book actually. About a demon, with a soulmate mark or something like that.” Mingi knows the lie isn’t believable. 

“Oh, uhm. I mean, in fiction anything works?” Wooyoung quirks an eyebrow and shrugs.

“Right, he just wants it to be realistic, I guess. Have you read anything about demons having soulmates?” Mingi is starting to realize that this was a bad idea. Of course, this human wouldn’t know anything. 

“I haven’t but you know what I have a friend who is really superstitious. He might know something; I could give you his number?”

Mingi is surprised that Wooyoung actually had something to offer and not judge the request, even if he does seem to find the situation odd.

“Could you ask him? For me?” Mingi quickly grabs the pen sitting on the table and writes down his number on Wooyoung’s notepad. “Here is my phone number, you can tell me what he says!”

“Was this just an excuse to give me your number?” Wooyoung tilts the corner of his mouth upwards into a smirk. Wooyoung takes note of the slight blush creeping onto Mingi’s cheeks. “I thought you said you couldn’t give me your number.”

“I can’t, I mean, I shouldn’t. But, it's for the research!” Mingi states, willing the blush to subside. Was this just an excuse for him to give Wooyoung his number?

“Ah, the research.” Wooyoung repeats smiling now.

“Yes, the research.”

“For your friend’s book.”

“For the book.” 

“Sure.” Wooyoung narrows his eyes teasingly.

“I’m being serious.” Mingi crosses his arms and huffs playfully. “You gotta ask your friend about it.”

“Ok. Ok. I will.” Wooyoung puts his hands up in mock surrender.

“I’m gonna get back to my friend now.” Mingi turns and heads back to Yunho and Jongho, aware of Wooyoung watching him as he goes. 

“Where’d you go? You didn’t even bring back any other books.” Jongho says as soon as Mingi is back at their table.

“I uh, couldn't find any.”

“How could you not find any? There are a million books in here.” Jongho deadpans. 

“I found books, duh. I just couldn’t find any that suit what we need.” Of course, this is a lie, as Mingi had gotten sidetracked and forgot to actually look for what he wanted. 

“Doesn’t matter, I may have found something.” Yunho says waving his hand dismissing whatever Mingi and Jongho were talking about.

“Wait, what did you find?”

“Well, instead of looking for more books, I went to the journals and newspaper section.” Yunho slides the journal he had found over to Mingi. “It’s a journal written from the point of view of a supposed demon. I looked it up, most people wrote it off as fiction or some sort of writing project. But since the writer of it has it registered as a journal and not a fictional book, it has to go with the other journals.” 

“Okay, but is it actually real? Have you read it yet?” Mingi picks up the journal flipping it over a few times. It’s a smaller journal, with a plain cover binding with a string that wraps around it to keep it closed.

“I don’t know, and no I haven’t. It’s in English. I only know Korean and Japanese.”

“Of all the years you’ve been alive you haven’t learned English?” Jongho asks incredulously.

“Have you learned English?” Yunho turns it back on Jongho.

“No.”

“Do you know any language other than Korean?”

“No.”

“Ok then.”

“I don’t know English either. How is this going to help?” Mingi sighs. He’s slowly starting to lose hope.

“I figured we could check it out, maybe look up and try to translate it ourselves. Human’s don’t believe in demons, but it's possible that this really was written by one. Even if it doesn’t say anything about soulmates, it could be useful.” Yunho insists.

“I guess it doesn’t hurt to try.” Mingi shrugs.

“Well I’m hungry can we leave?” Jongho tuts out his bottom lip.

“Of course, we can.” Yunho replies upon seeing Jongho pouting cutely.

“Jongho, you can’t get hungry.” Mingi says flatly looking over at him.

“Ok fine, I’m bored. And we obviously aren’t getting anywhere with this. We should try the internet, that’s a thing now.” Jongho says before pouting again. “Pretty please?”

“Ok. Ok. Stop with the pouting, we can go.” Mingi gives in.

“Yay!”

~~~~~~~~~~

It’s later that night when Mingi is attempting to use google translate to decode the journal, a long grueling process, that he finally gets a text. The ding of his phone scares Mingi, making him jump. He closes the journal, using a sticky note to keep his place. He grabs his phone and is met with a text from an unsaved number. ‘Wooyoung?’ Mingi thinks, ‘It has to be Wooyoung’. He opens the text and sure enough it’s a text from Wooyoung.

_Hey, it's Wooyoung. I asked my friend San about your inquiry for your friend’s book. He doesn’t know the answer to your question, but he knows a different library that may be helpful._

Mingi texts him back.

_Hi! What’s the library?_

Wooyoung is quick to respond:

_It's kinda on the other side of town. We could go together tomorrow? If you want to of course._

Mingi feels like he should say no. He should probably not go to the library with this human who is basically a stranger. He knows that if he allows himself to be friends with him, that it would only end up hurt in the end.

_Sure. We can go tomorrow._

Wooyoung:

_Great, it’s a date ;)_

Mingi could feel the heat in his face and started to regret his decision. There was no turning back now though. Instead he resorted to translating more of the book until then, calling in Yunho to help. Eventually after only getting a few understandable sentences they decide it isn’t worth the headache. They instead turn to the internet to try and find answers, like Jongho had suggested. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The library San had told Wooyoung about was a small building on the other side of town, hidden a few streets behind the main rush of the city. Wooyoung had met Mingi outside of Mingi’s apartment, and they had decided to take the bus to the library. They had made easy conversation the whole way here, Mingi thought Wooyoung was probably one of the funniest people he had ever met. Now they stay quiet as they make their way into the library, that was said to have much more information about the superstitious and paranormal. 

San had told Wooyoung that the library had pretty much anything you could think of in relation to demons. Wooyoung didn’t believe in demons, or ghosts, or anything supernatural really, but respected people who did. He is only here because he wants to see Mingi. Wooyoung knows that it's against his better judgement to spend more time with Mingi, especially to flirt with him. Mingi has a soulmate, and Wooyoung doesn’t. 

Wooyoung had expected the library to be darker, messier maybe, for such a small, old building. Instead, the place was bright, almost too bright. Everything seemed much more well kept than even the much bigger library in the main part of town. The door closed behind them with a soft thump and they were immediately greeted by a young-looking woman. 

“Hello! I’m Jisoo, I’m the owner of this library, how can I help you?” The woman, Jisoo, has her hair in a low pony, and her clothes seem much more expensive than a typical librarian would be able to afford, but Wooyoung decides to not question.

“I’m Wooyoung, this is Mingi.” Wooyoung introduces them, noticing how her eyes linger on Mingi, but not out of interest, but a curiosity. “We’re looking for anything on, demons and soulmates?” He poses it as more of a question than a statement.

“Yes of course, we have quite a few books and papers on that topic. It will be near the back on the second and third to last rows.” Jisoo points them in the direction of what they are looking for. 

“Thank you!” Wooyoung replies, grabbing Mingi’s wrist, pulling him in the direction that Jisoo pointed out. Once they get to the row of books Wooyoung lets go of Mingi’s wrist and begins to look through the books. “You know you were staring at her back there.”

“What? No, I wasn’t.” Mingi refutes also beginning to look for anything that may help. 

“Sure.” Wooyoung isn’t sure why the librarian and Mingi had stared at each the way they did, but it had looked like they were trying to read into each other’s souls. “So, what exactly are we looking for again?”

“The possibility of a demon having a soulmate.” Mingi mutters. This quest of information is starting to feel like a useless one.

“Right. So… have you met your soulmate yet?” 

“No… I haven’t.” 

“Have you tried looking for them?”

“Kinda?” They were in a way looking for the soulmate now.

“If I had a soulmate, I would be spending every second looking for them.” Wooyoung comments offhandedly. 

“If you had a soulmate, I would help you look for them.” Mingi offers.

“Thanks, but no need. No soulmate after all.” Wooyoung sighs, “ Ok I think I found a couple of things that may be good to look at.”

Mingi had been too busy watching Wooyoung look through the books than to actually look for books himself. He grabs a random book off of the shelf when Wooyoung looks his way. “I found one that might help as well.”

They make their way back to the front of the library and sit at a table with the books and sit. Mingi glances around for Jisoo, but doesn’t see her anywhere. Mingi and Wooyoung sit quietly talking and reading through the books, taking note of anything that seems important. 

Once in a while they ask the other a question about what they’ve found or for help reading something. Wooyoung takes any chance he can to make a comment about something he’s read, turning it into some sort of pun or joke to get Mingi to laugh. Unsurprisingly it works every time. Wooyoung also flirts with Mingi any moment he can get. Complimenting his reading skills and telling him he’s cute when he’s concentrated. Mingi fails to hide his red cheeks every time. At some point they both end up on the same side of the table instead of opposite of each other. 

Mingi is surprised Jisoo hasn’t shown up to shush them as this is still a library, and they are most definitely not being quiet. They have long abandoned their mission of researching and have resorted to talking and laughing about random things. Wooyoung had just finished telling him a story about his friends. It was endearing to watch Wooyoung talk so fondly about people he obviously cared so much for.

“Hm, I want to meet your friends. They seem really fun.” Mingi comments as Wooyoung smiles and nods.

“They are, but not nearly as fun as I am.”

“Of course not. You’re definitely the most fun person I have ever met. What are your friend’s names?”

“San and Yeosang. Yeosang is the oldest of us but we are all the same age still, so it doesn’t really matter. San and Yeosang are soulmates though.” Wooyoung rambles on describing his friends, a smile never leaving his face. “San is the one that told me about this place, if he isn’t reading about the paranormal then he can be found at the arcade, he spends too much time-“

“Wait.”

“Hm?”

“San? As in the high score on Donkey Kong, San?” Mingi thinks back to the day that he, Yunho, and Jongho had gone to the arcade, and he had beat the high score.

“Oh my god, YOU'RE THAT MINGI?” Wooyoung all but screeches, eyes wide in excitement. At the sound of his scream, Jisoo finally comes from the office behind the desk and asks them to please keep it quiet. Wooyoung apologies and continues. “My god this is such a small world. San is going to kill you. I don’t think you’ll want to meet him anymore.”

“Kill me… that’s funny,” Mingi mumbles, “It's just a game though.”

“Just a game? Try telling that to San. I have to tell him about this.” Wooyoung pulls out his phone and sends a quick text to supposedly San. Just seconds later Wooyoung gets a phone call, and all Mingi can hear is San demanding to put him on the phone. Thankfully Wooyoung only laughs and refuses. After Wooyoung hangs up they both laugh it off and sit in a comfortable silence, just looking at each other. 

“Hm, this research isn’t for a friend’s book is it?” Wooyoung asks, breaking the silence. Wooyoung knows that it isn’t but he isn’t sure what the truth is. There has to be something more to this though. Mingi was much too interested and determined to look into this.

“No… it isn’t.”

“What is it for?”

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.” Mingi diverts his attention away from Wooyoung’s fluttering eyelashes to the book in front of him.

“Maybe, maybe not. But would it hurt to tell me?” Wooyoung presses.

“Possibly.”

“How?”

Mingi thinks about it for a moment. How could it hurt. One possibility is Wooyoung believes him and helps him search. No hurt done right? The other, Wooyoung doesn’t believe him and decides enough is enough and doesn’t stick around. No hurt done right? Except the thought of Wooyoung not wanting to talk to him anymore does hurt, it hurts a lot more than it should. They’ve only known each other for such a short time, why does it matter, Mingi thinks. He shouldn’t let himself get anymore attached than he already is, might as well tell him, let him push Mingi away.

“The demon with a soulmate…” Mingi starts not looking to Wooyoung, “Is me.”

Silence, then laughter. Mingi looks up to Wooyoung who obviously doesn’t believe him. Mingi doesn’t blame him.

“You had me worried for a second there. If you don’t want to tell the truth about all this that’s fine.”

“I am telling the truth. I died a year ago, Wooyoung. Then on what would’ve been my eighteenth birthday I got a mark. Which makes no sense because I don’t exactly have a soul.” Mingi confesses fully.

“Oh. You’re being serious.” Wooyoung looks at him incredulously.

“Yes, I am.” Mingi replies. They sit in silence for a moment looking at each other once again.

“You know, I uh, I’m gonna go, I’m sorry.” Wooyoung stands up and grabs his things before leaving. Mingi doesn’t even try to stop him, he expected this much. 

“You know, that was bound to happen.” Jisoo has resurfaced from her office again and is leaning on the library desk. “The last time I told a human I was a demon they tried claiming I was a witch and wanted me burned at the stake. That was so long ago though.”

Mingi knew she was a demon the moment he had seen her. It was like a sense that demons had, they could spot each other in a crowd easily. 

“Yeah.” Mingi comments dejectedly. “Thank you for letting us use your library, I’m going to go now.” Mingi gets up and gathers his stuff and leaves the library.

He feels stupid for being so affected by it. He knows it was bound to happen if not now then eventually. Maybe it was for the better that it happened now though. 

~~~~~~~~~~~

“I know it was stupid of me, but I really thought it was going to go somewhere.” Wooyoung is laying on his bed letting his head hang over the side of it. He had called Yeosang and Yeonjun over the moment he got home from the library. He didn’t want to invite San and Changbin because he didn’t think he could handle being near a couple right now.

“I’m sorry Woo.” Yeosang says. He is lying with his head on top of Wooyoung’s stomach, while Yeonjun sits on the floor at the foot of the bed, next to where Wooyoung is hanging his head. 

“Didn’t you say he has a soulmate mark though?” Yeonjun asks.

“Yeah… but… I don’t know it just felt so different around him. I thought maybe just maybe it wouldn’t matter if he had one. People don’t always settle for their soulmate anyway.”

“You said he claims to be a demon?” Yeosang questions. Wooyoung had told them the whole story of what Mingi had said.

“Yup. Said he died a year ago and everything.” Wooyoung repeats.

“Maybe he was just lying to not have to tell you the truth, there has to be something else.” Yeosang reasons.

“No, you should’ve seen him, he was dead serious, no pun intended.” Wooyoung rolls his eyes and sits up, making Yeosang sit up as well.

“Hmm, what if it is the truth?” Yeonjun says. “I mean, San is always going on about how stuff like that exists, how do we know it doesn’t?”

“Oh, come on, not you too. Don’t get me wrong, everyone can have their own beliefs, but demons and ghosts and all that? It doesn’t make sense in any way.” Wooyoung says exasperated. 

“Does anything make sense though? Not even soulmates make sense when you think about it. I’m not saying he is a demon, or dead. Just maybe give him a chance. Hear him out.” Yeonjun expresses. 

“I think Yeonjun is right. There might be more to the story than you know.” Yeosang nods in agreement. 

“Maybe…” Wooyoung sighs in defeat. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next day Wooyoung can’t stop thinking about what Yeonjun had said, how nothing makes sense. It is true. Nothing in life had made much sense yet, not even soulmates, the main driving force of society. Wooyoung didn’t want to go straight back to Mingi though. What he said was still just too weird to dismiss. Instead, Wooyoung decided to go back to the small library and look more alone instead.

“Oh, I didn’t think you would be back.” Jisoo comments as he enters the library.

“Oh uhm, I wanted to do some reading for myself this time.” Which isn’t technically a lie.

“Well, I guess you probably wouldn’t want to read this.” Jisoo slides a book over the library desk towards Wooyoung. 

“What is it?” Wooyoung walks closer and inspects the book.

“I couldn’t help but overhear what you and your friend were talking about yesterday. You should read this, and maybe also take a look at some of those newspapers and journals on the side wall.” Jisoo smiles softly, pushing the book slightly closer to Wooyoung.

After hesitating for a moment Wooyoung takes the book and walks over to the side wall to look at what Jisoo had suggested. Wooyoung had a feeling he was going to be here for a while.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

When Mingi had got home yesterday, Yunho and Jongho had tried asking why he was upset, he had passed it off as being upset over not being able to find anything. They both thought it was reasonable to be upset over such a thing and had let him be mope in his room alone. 

That’s where he still sat. He has been watching cat and dog videos to help cheer himself up, but it didn’t seem to be working. He felt childish to be so upset over Wooyoung. He knew from the beginning that it wouldn’t end well. Yunho had warned him for a reason. And yet he had let himself do it anyway. Now, he would just have to learn to get over it, even if just the mere thought of having to forget about Wooyoung hurt. 

“At least I learned my lesson early on,” Mingi thinks aloud “, maybe I should pick up a new hobby…” 

Mingi grabs his phone and begins scrolling through google searches on ideas for a new hobby. Something to distract him and help him forget. It feels like hours have passed and Mingi is ready to give up, he’s about to put his phone down when he hears a knock on the door. Thinking it's most likely Jongho or Yunho coming to check on him he hurries to busy himself on his phone again.

“Come In!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Wooyoung knocks on the door of the apartment he knows belongs to Mingi and the two roommates he has yet to meet. He doesn’t let the anxiety of meeting them get to him, he has more important things to worry about. After just a moment a tall boy with peach hair opens the door with a confused look on his face.

“Hi, can I help you?” The boy speaks.

“I’m a friend of Mingi’s, can I please talk to him?” Wooyoung asks voice shaking more than he would like.

“I didn’t know Mingi had a friend.” The boy eyes him for a moment seeming to debate on if he can trust him or not.

“My name is Wooyoung. I’ve been helping Mingi research about soulmates.” Wooyoung supplies more information hoping the boy will let him in. 

“Oh, you must be the person who told Mingi about that library.” The boy seems to think once more before holding the door open further. “I'm Yunho, you can come on in. Mingi should be in his room i'll go get him for you”

“No, it's fine, I can go to him. Which room is his?” Wooyoung walks into the apartment, taking his shoes off at the door.

“It’s the one at the very end of the hall.” Yunho says pointing towards the hallway.

“Thank You!” Wooyoung gives him a smile and heads to Mingi’s room. He takes a deep breath before knocking.

“Come in!” Wooyoung hears Mingi speak from the other side of the door. He slowly opens the door and sees Mingi sitting on the edge of his bed scrolling on his phone. Wooyoung closes the door but just stands in the doorway. Mingi finally looks up and is surprised, to say the least, when he sees Wooyoung.

“What- What are you doing here?” Mingi set his phone down fully looking at Wooyoung now.

“I believe you.” Wooyoung states. 

“What?” Mingi asks, confused.

“I believe that you are what you say you are.” Wooyoung starts, “I did some other research actually… and apparently ghosts and spirits are two separate things that also exist? Did you know that?”

“Yeah, I’ve heard of such things, you know you could’ve… just texted me?” Mingi is tired, not physically of course. But mentally.

“Well, uhm, there was something else…” Wooyoung’s bravery has already started to fade, and he can’t help but to doubt what he wants to say.

“Something else?” Mingi repeats, avoiding eye contact.

“Uhm, well, like you found out about it being possible to have soulmates… I found something else that explains how that’s actually possible.” Wooyoung set the books he brought with him on Mingi’s bedside table.

“What do you mean?” Mingi glances at the books and loose pieces of paper. 

“Well… demons don’t technically have souls… as their soul is in hell, whatever that is.” Wooyoung mumbles the last part. 

“Yeah… I know.” Mingi rolls his eyes, starting to feel annoyed. 

“But humans do have souls.” Wooyoung continues cautiously.

“Where is this going?” Mingi finally locks eyes with Wooyoung. Wooyoung can see the annoyance and a hint of another emotion he hadn’t seen in Mingi before, anger. 

“Wait, no, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean that rudely. It's just that, you have a mark because your soulmate has a soul. Your soulmate is human. But that also means your soulmate wouldn’t have a mark because you don’t have a soul.”

“Oh.” Realization dawns on Mingi “So you're saying my soulmate is human?” 

“Yes, I said that.” Wooyoung says sharper than he meant to. “Sorry I didn’t mean to snap.” 

Mingi lightly touches the book that Wooyoung laid on the table. The air between the two of them felt stiff. It hadn’t ever felt like this before, and Mingi hates it. Did any of this really matter anyway? Why did he have to go and be friends with a human? Friend. He wasn’t sure why, but the word doesn’t feel like the right word to describe Wooyoung, neither did any other word though. Stubborn. That was a good word for Wooyoung. 

“Mingi I-“

“But then… why or how would I even find them. If they're human I’ll just live past them anyway plus they don’t even have a mark, how would I find them.” He cuts Wooyoung off, looking into his eyes again.

“Well….I mean you’d know it if you found them… like…”

“Like?”

“Like… you’d feel different around them. You just connect, and it’s easy to understand each other. You always smile when you’re with them. They make you laugh over the smallest things. You never get tired of hearing them talk. You lose track of time when you’re with them. They make your heart race; with everything they say or do. You find yourself looking forward to the next time you get to see them anytime you’re apart.”

“You don’t have a soulmate though, Wooyoung.” Mingi sighs, frustrated. “How do you know what it would be like.”

“Because.” Wooyoung breathes in. “That’s how it feels when I’m with you.” He breaths out.

“What…” Mingi slowly stands up from his bed making Wooyoung take a step back. “I… You-”

“I’m sorry,” It's Wooyoung’s turn to cut Mingi off, “I shouldn’t have said anything. I’m just gonna go.” 

And just like that Wooyoung is out of his room, and Mingi can hear the front door open and slam close seconds later. Yunho enters his room only moments later.

“Hey, what was that about?” Yunho asked. Mingi hesitates to answer. He isn’t sure what the answer is.

“Can I- Can I just have some time to myself please?” Mingi asks instead.

“Of course, call me whenever you’re ready to talk.” Yunho pats Mingi’s head and leaves the room, softly closing the door. 

Mingi grabs the papers that Wooyoung had left on his table and glances over them. They were old newspaper and journal clippings that detailed information about demons and other ‘paranormal’ entities. He sets the papers down and grab’s the book again. Mingi opens it to realize it's exactly like the journal they had found in the library and had failed to translate. Except this one is written in perfect Korean. He spends the next few hours reading the journal. The journal is also written by a demon. Most of the journal was unremarkable, the man had simply written his journey of trying to find his own peace. But one of the entries in it, he had mentioned his friend; a demon with a soulmate who was human. The friend had a soulmate mark, but the human had not. The man had explained it the same way Wooyoung did. The human had a soul, but the demon did not. 

Mingi sets the book aside and lays on his bed staring up at the ceiling. But what does all of this mean? Wooyoung had described what it felt to be around your soulmate, he had said that was how he felt around Mingi. 

“Do I feel the same way?” Mingi thought aloud. Wooyoung is an easy person to be around. Mingi does feel different when he’s with him. Mingi isn’t sure if he can fully understand the younger boy, but when they are together it feels like Wooyoung understands him completely. Mingi never fails to smile or laugh over something Wooyoung says or does, and Wooyoung definitely makes his demon heart race...

“Shit.”

Mingi picks up his phone and navigates to Wooyoung’s contact, hesitating a second before hitting the call. Mingi doesn’t expect Wooyoung to pick up as fast as he does.

“Hello?” The boy answers the phone quietly.

“Hey.” Mingi replies. 

They both stay quiet for a moment.

“Is there any way I can get you to meet me somewhere?” Mingi asks slowly.

“My friends are telling me not to give you another chance.” Wooyoung mutters.

Mingi can hear a voice in the background say in the background, “He’s the one that beat my high score, of course you shouldn’t give him another chance.”

“Please tell San I’m sorry about the arcade game.” Mingi laughs softly.

“Mingi said he’s sorry...” Wooyoung relays the message, “San doesn’t forgive you.”

“Can you? At least give me a chance…” Mingi tries again.

“I am kind of hungry.” Wooyoung says, and Mingi can hear several groans coming from the other side of the phone.

“Let’s meet for food, I’ll buy.” Mingi offers. 

“Of course, you’ll buy.” 

“I'll text you the address of the small diner near my place?”

“Sure.”

“See you there.”

“See you.”

Mingi hangs up the phone and sends the address to Wooyoung. He quickly puts on a clean outfit and tidies his hair. After letting Yunho and Jongho know he’s going out, without giving them time to object, Mingi is out the door and on the way to the diner. 

~~~~~~~~~

Mingi and Wooyoung sit quietly observing each other in the small diner booth. They had already ordered food and were now waiting for it to arrive as they sip on their drinks. 

Mingi knows he should probably say something soon but he isn’t sure what to say or rather how to say it. ‘Wooyoung, I’m in love with you.’ Probably isn’t the best choice. 

“So…” Wooyoung trails off.

“So…” Mingi repeats.

“Please say something... anything.” Wooyoung says, and Mingi can tell Wooyoung had been crying. 

“I like you, a lot.” Mingi starts. “Wait, more than a lot. I don’t know if you’re my soulmate. I don’t really know much of anything. But if there’s anything I’m sure of is that all of those feelings that you described. The ones that you said you felt about me, I feel every single one of them about you. I told myself I wouldn’t let myself get attached to a human, even Yunho warned me. But then I met you and falling just felt so easy.”

Before Wooyoung can reply though the waiter arrives with their food and sets it in front of them. The waiter asks if they may need anything else and leaves when they assure him their fine. 

“What does this mean then?” Wooyoung inquires.

“I don’t care if you’re my soulmate or not, Wooyoung. I don’t care if you’re human, or if I’ll one day out live you. I know we haven’t known each other long but, I think I love you.” Mingi blushes after having finally muttered the words. He notices how Wooyoung’s eyes go wide and blushes as well.

“I think I love you too Mingi…” Wooyoung replies. “I know that we’ve already started things kind of backwards, considering you're typically supposed to be in a relationship before saying I love you, but will you be my boyfriend Mingi?” 

“Yes, Wooyoung I’ll be your boyfriend.” Mingi can’t help but to smile widely. He’s never truly felt this happy. Maybe his soul isn’t perfectly at rest yet, and maybe Mingi is just stuck in the moment, but he feels like so much weight had been lifted off his shoulders. He feels peaceful.


End file.
